San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1887-11-08
Thomas Keene at the Grand.

0
A very intelligent and fashionable au-
dience at the Grand opera house last
right greeted Mr.. Thomas Keene's ad-
vent in high tragedy. The house was
we'll filed from pit to dome, though not
crowded. The curtain was quite prompt
in rising, and Mr.. Keene was before
| them In his difficult part OF "lago" In
| Shakspeare's grand Othello," q
masterpiece depicting the greatest OF
human passions, love, Jealousy, hate and
envy. lago was q rough, strong villain,
| subtle ana cunning as the serpent, who
thought his honor wroDged by the black
Moor, and suspecting Cassie OF a like
| triumph over him, yet envied him his
high position as the MOOr's lieutenant.
Determining to wreak vengeance, "wife
for wife," on the unsuspeotinR and tran
! gully innocent Moor, and likewise over
throw Cassie, he plays his devilish work
SO well, that Othello strsngles his beau
tIful and pure wife out OF sheer Jealousy.
depOse5 Cassie and elects lagO Instead.
Shakespeare, however, does not allow
IaRo 10 triumph at the last, but allows
him to end, miserable as he began, ana
before the final death-hlow the
MoOrdeals himself, allows the full knoWl-
edge of lagos Ireachery to become ap-
parent to Othello.
MIR. Keene is we'll suited in physique
to essay the role Of IsgO, and made up
well as the coarse yet subtle knsve. His
conception of the part, however, Is some-
what different to other essayists OF the
difficult role, though whether the
correct one, Shakesperean students
can best determine when they see MIN.
He puts more ribsldry and jest In the
first act than Ii would seemingly war
I.,t t.n
seQuent acts and cleaves more faithfully
to the true conception, and In the third
act, which Is his climax, when he
poisons the loving husbands minds
by Jealous darts, he rises to the part In
all its force.
MIR. Joseph Wheelock was made up
as splendid Moor, and spoke
his lines well. His fire was
not lacking when needed nor was
his tenderness and pathos.
Miss Anna Boyle's "Desdemona" was
very closely portrayed, indeed. AS
beautiful. as the fair maid OF Venice Is
depicted, she was gentle, loving and yet
womanly as she should be. Her form Ia
nearly perfect and with lovely feature
and graceful pose she captured the au-
dience in admiration. Her lines, too, are
spoken in the proper tone, rythm ana
emphasis. In act four she reaches her
climax as the wife protesting her inno-
cence before her enraged lord.
Miss Constance Hamblin, as lagos
wife, Emilia, Is an actress OF fine ability,
possessing great dramatic force, which
she thrills the audience within the last
act, when she denounces the Moorish
murderer and then her husband.
Cassie, the lieutenant, was we'll
represented by Eugene Moore, and the
part, though by no means so prominent
as the Others, was well brought out.
His best part, where he boasts Of BIZ
anca's love for him, and which boasting
Is judged by the eavesdrOpping
Othello as Of his wife, is cut out COM
pletely In the original dramatizatiOn.
j. b. Curran, who first was seen In San
Antonio in the Templeton company,
made very good BrsbantiO, though
lacking some force in his second scene
before the Duke.
The minor actors in the play were
well sChOoled and "a to physique and
preparation, the company is excellent.
The scenery was well put on except the
garden, the scene of Othello's first jeal-
Ousy, which instead WAS represented rs
in the castle hall.
Tonight Mr.. keene and company APP
pear 10 Richard Ill, and another exhi-
bition OF his talent will be given the
public He should be given a crowded
house.